It was as though his right foot were stuck firmly to the sand!
He pushed himself back, and with a tremendous heave managed to pull himself free. He braced his body against the cliff, lifted his foot, and looked at it.
Hanging from his boot sole was one of the ugliest monstrosities he had ever seen, unusually grotesque.
* * * *
It was about the size and shape of a regulation football, and was covered with a wrinkled, reddish hide. At one end was a bright red gash of a mouth studded with greenish, gnashing teeth. From the other end of the creature’s body protruded a long, needle-like projection which had imbedded itself in the metal sole of Wayne’s boot.
“Good God! If I’d been wearing ordinary boots, that thing would have stuck clear into my foot!”
He hefted the weighted pick with one hand and swung, catching the monster with the point. It sank in and ripped through the creature, spilling red-orange blood over the sand. Shuddering a little, Wayne put his other foot on the dead thing and pulled his right boot free of the needle beak.
He started to say something, but he had a sudden premonition that made him look up in time. Sergeant Boggs put both hands against the Captain’s shoulder and pushed.
“What the hell?” Wayne asked in surprise as he felt the shove. He almost fell to the sand, but he had had just enough warning to allow him to keep his balance. He put out a foot and staggered wildly.
A sudden strange noise caused him to turn and look back. Five needles were jabbing viciously up out of the sand in the spot where he would have fallen.
“You out of your head, Boggs?” he started to ask—but before the last word was out of his mouth, the sergeant charged in madly and tried to push him over again. He was fighting like a man gone berserk—which he was.
Wayne grabbed him by the wrist and flipped him desperately aside. The sergeant fell, sprawled out for a moment on the sand, then bounced to his feet again. His eyes were alight with a strange, terrifying flame.
Silently, he leaped for Wayne. The captain slammed his fist forward, sending it crashing into Boggs’s midsection. The sergeant came back with a jab to the stomach that pushed Wayne backward. Again the deadly needles flicked up from the ground, but they did not strike home.
Wayne gasped for breath and reached out for Boggs. Boggs leaped on him, trying to push Wayne down where the beaks could get to him. Wayne sidestepped, threw Boggs off balance, and clubbed down hard with his fist.
Boggs wandered dizzily for a second before Wayne’s other fist came blasting in, knocking the breath out of him. A third blow, and the sergeant collapsed on the sand.
Wayne paused and caught his breath. The sergeant remained unconscious. Wayne shook his head uncertainly, wondering what had come over the mild-mannered Boggs. A chilling thought struck him: was this what happened to the crew of the Mavis?
* * * *
He looked up the cliff, where the other two men were still peering over the edge.
“MacPherson! Manetti! Come down! We’re going back to the ship!”
He heaved the unconscious body of Sergeant Boggs over his shoulder like a potato-sack, and waited for the two men to come down. They drew near.
“Boggs must have gone out of his head,” Wayne said. “He jumped me like a madman.”
They had nothing to say, so he turned and began to trudge back to the Lord Nelson, trying to assemble the facts in his mind. They followed alongside.
What was behind the attack? After seeing the monster, why had Boggs attempted to push his superior officer over into the sand? There were other little beasts under that sand; why would Boggs want one of them—there seemed to be dozens—to jab him with its needle of a beak?
And what were the beastly little animals, anyway?
There were no answers. But the answers would have to come, soon.
He tossed Boggs into the airlock and waited for the others to catch up. They climbed up the ladder and said nothing as the airlock went through its cycle and the antibacterial spray covered them.
* * * *
Colonel Petersen looked at him across the desk and put the palms of his hands together. “Then, as I understand it, Captain, Sergeant Boggs tried to push you over into the sand when this—ah—monster jabbed you in the foot?”
“That’s right, sir,” Wayne said. He felt uncomfortable. This wasn’t a formal court-martial; it was simply an inquiry into the sergeant’s actions. Charges would be preferred later, if there were any to be preferred.
Sergeant Boggs stood stolidly on the far side of the room. A livid bruise along his jaw testified to the struggle that had taken place. One eye was puffed, and his expression was an unhappy one. Near him, MacPherson and Private Manetti stood stiffly at attention.
The colonel looked at Boggs. “What’s your side of the story, Sergeant?”
The non-com’s face didn’t change. “Sir, the captain’s statement isn’t true.”
“What’s that?” Wayne asked angrily.
“Quiet, Captain,” Petersen said. “Go ahead, Boggs.”
The sergeant licked his bruised lips. “I was about to start up the rope when, for no reason at all, he struck me in the stomach. Then he hit me again a few more times, and I passed out.”
“Did he say anything when he did this?” the Colonel asked.
“No, sir.”
Wayne frowned. What was the sergeant trying to do? What the devil was he up to?
“Corporal MacPherson,” the colonel said, “Did you witness the fight?”
“Yes, sir,” the small man said, stepping a pace forward.
“Describe it.”
“Well, sir, we were up on top of the cliff, and we called—or rather, I called for the captain and the sergeant to come on up. Sergeant Boggs took a hold of the rope and then the captain hit him in the belly, sir. He hit him twice more and the sergeant fell down. Then the captain told us to come down, which we did, sir. That was all.” He gestured with his hands to indicate he had no more to say.
Wayne could hardly believe his ears. Making an effort, he managed to restrain himself.
“Private Manetti, do you have anything to add to that?” the colonel asked.
“No, sir. It happened just like that, sir. We both seen the entire thing. That’s the way it happened. The captain hauled off and let him have it.”
The colonel swivelled around and let his cold eyes rest on Wayne. “Captain, you have stated that Sergeant Boggs did not talk to either of these two men after you struck him. That eliminates any collusion.”
“Yes, sir,” Wayne said stonily.
“I talked to both men separately, and they tell substantially the same story. The records of all three of these men are excellent. The sergeant claims he never saw any monster of the type you describe, and the group I sent out to check says that there is no body of any alien animal anywhere near the spot. How do you explain the discrepancies between your story and theirs?”
* * * *
Wayne glared angrily at the three men. “They’re lying, sir,” he said evenly. “I don’t know why they’re doing it. The whole thing took place exactly as I told you.”
“I find that very difficult to believe, Captain.”
“Is that a formal accusation, sir?”
Petersen shrugged and rubbed his hands against his iron-grey temples. “Captain,” he said finally, “you have a very fine record. You have never before been known to strike an enlisted man for